Candy Corn
by Paper Flight
Summary: Six year old Maka loves candy corn more than anything, and she's determined to guess the right amount of candy in the jar. But what happens when her nemesis, Soul Evans, threatens to steal her candy away from her? Spartoi as children, requests taken.
1. Candy Corn

**Candy Corn**

* * *

"All right, class, settle down!" the teacher pleaded, straining to make herself heard over the raucous laughing of the kindergarteners. Only the small girl with blonde pigtails was sitting quietly at her desk, hands clasped in front of her. "Black*Star, that is _enough!_" ordered the teacher, pulling the large box of crayons away from the blue haired boy. "You _cannot_ eat the crayons, how many times have I told you this?"

The boy smiled up at her. "I can eat whatever I want. Nothing to stop a god like me," he chortled, and ran off towards his best friend, a boy with untidy white hair and startling red eyes.

The teacher sighed wearily, and clapped her hands for attention. "Everyone, I have an announcement. Get in your seats _now._"

Eventually, the children settled down at their seats, bright eyes looking up at the teacher. She smiled fondly at them. "I have a surprise for you!"

The class began murmuring excitedly.

"Ms. Marie, what is it?"

She gave a conspiratorial smile and pulled a large jar filled with candy corn from behind her. The children let out a collective gasp of awe, staring at the mass of candy within the jar.

"I thought that we could play a little game since Halloween is coming around. If you can guess the number of candy corn in this jar, you get to keep it!"

The girl with the pigtails straightened, her eyes sparking with determination. Though nobody knew it, candy corn was her most _favorite_ candy in the world. She could live off candy corn for the rest of her life. There was no way anybody else would guess the right number – she was going to get the jar! The girl raised her hand.

"Yes, Maka?" asked the teacher.

"How many guesses do we get?" A few desks over, the boy with pale hair snickered, his red eyes flashing at the girl.

Maka frowned. She _hated_ that boy. His name was Soul, and on the first day of school he pulled her pigtails and on the second day of school he called her a bookworm. It got worse after that, he was _always _teasing her. Sometimes, when she got home, she cried to her parents, but her mama just took Maka into her arms and smiled, saying that maybe he liked her and teasing her was just his way of showing it.

Maka didn't understand _that_ at all.

She stuck her tongue out at the boy, and the teacher hastily stopped the argument before it could escalate any further. "Maka, that's an excellent question. Soul, don't make fun of her. I'll hand out these little slips of paper, and you should write down your name and the amount of candy you think is in this jar. Then, put it in the box on my desk. At the end of the day, I'll announce who the winner is. Tsubaki, will you hand the slips out? Each person should get one." She passed a stack of paper to the girl whose black hair was tied up in a high ponytail. "You can come up to my desk to look at the jar if you like. In a single file line!" she added hastily, as the children stampeded towards her desk. "Single file!"

"Hey, Soul, what are you gonna guess?" asked Black*Star.

"I don't know," said the other lazily. "But I hope I get it. I love candy corn more than anything, even more than piano."

Black*Star gasped. He didn't think it was possible for Soul to love anything more than _piano._

Behind them, Maka scowled darkly. "If anyone's gonna get it, it's gonna be me!" she announced.

The boy turned around and laughed. "You? No way! Smartypants," he jeered, and her face turned red. She lifted her nose in the air and stuck her chin out defiantly.

Black*Star was next in line. Without glancing at the jar, he confidently stuck his slip of paper inside. "It'll be me for sure! I'm awesome!" he shouted.

It was Soul's turn. He walked up to the desk, eyeing it carefully. Then he quickly scribbled down his name and a number and placed it in the box. Turning around, he stuck his tongue out at Maka and ran to catch up with Black*Star.

Maka was the last in line. She walked up to the desk and carefully began counting the number of pieces on the sides. Ms. Marie saw what she was doing and hesitated. "Maka, honey, it'll take too long to count the number of candy corn. Besides, you're only counting the number of candy corn on the sides, not the stuff on the inside."

The kindergartner smiled up at her, her green eyes shining. "I learned how to do multiplication! Since this jar is kind of squarish, if I count the number of candy corn lining the side and then find the third power of that number, it should give me the volume of the jar in units of candy corn."

Ms. Marie blinked. "Oh," she said very faintly. Maka proceeded to continue counting the number of candy corn lining the jar.

"Let's see…7 pieces. is…343!" she rattled off quickly, mentally calculating the math in her head. She wrote down _Maka Albarn – 343_ in neat cursive on the slip of paper and stuck it in the box. "Thanks, Ms. Marie!" and she flounced back towards her desk, pigtails bouncing.

Ms. Marie excused herself to go get a drink of water.

The entire day, Maka could barely focus. Normally, she was very quiet and serious, always taking notes, but today she just couldn't get the thought of the candy corn out of her head. She_ loved_ candy corn, she loved it more than anything, and if Soul got it (she glared at the small boy across from her, head resting on his arms and a trickle of drool dripping from his open mouth), she didn't know what she'd do.

Finally, the time came for the winner to be announced. Ms. Marie sent the class out in the hall, ordering them to be _quiet_, or else the entire contest was off, and sat back at her desk, reading the slips of paper.

She rifled through them, none of them were even close. There were only a few slips of paper left.

_Tsubaki Nakatsukasa – 386._

_Liz Thompson – 784._

_Death the Kid – 8._

_Patti Thompson – 10,000._

_BLACK*STAR – A BILLION KAZILLION A TRILLION._

_Soul Evans – 465._

_Maka Albarn – 343._

Ms. Marie gave a small smile and placed the slips of paper back into the box, keeping the one with the right answer on her desk.

When the children filed back into the classroom, it was quiet and solemn, most unlike their normal behavior. Ms. Marie walked up to the front of the room, holding the jar of candy in one hand and a slip of paper in the other.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for…" her voice trailed off, and she glanced at each student in the class, whose eyes were attentively trained on her. "The winner of the candy corn competition is…"

It was dead silent, the air thick with anticipation.

"…Soul Evans!"

The room was filled with shouts of "Aww's" and "Darn's" as the disappointed class watched the boy slouch up to the room and accept the jar, which was almost as big as his head. On his way back, he looked over at Maka. He was about to make a gloating remark when he saw her face.

Her eyes were large and threatening to overflow with tears. Even her pigtails looked wilted. Feeling uncomfortable, he stuffed the jar in his backpack, out of sight.

Black*Star nudged him. "How'd you know?"

Soul shrugged. "I just guessed my lucky number."

Ms. Marie clapped her hands. "Okay, class, the bell's about to ring! Push in your chairs when you leave. See you tomorrow!"

The children filed out of the room, some taking the bus home and others walking. Soul was one of the children who walked home, as the Evans' house was very close to school. He also lived very close to Maka, so usually he saw her on the way to school and on the way back home, never missing an opportunity to tease her. She always ran ahead of him so that she wouldn't have to be near him, though today, he didn't see her.

Guilt squirmed within him when he remembered her scrunched up face. He didn't _actually _mean to hurt her feelings. She'd never cried before. It was just the only way he could have an excuse to talk to her.

He heard a small sniffle behind him and turned around. She was a few meters away from him, wiping her eyes with a small fist. When she looked up and saw him staring, she quickly put on a fierce grimace, in the hopes of scaring him away, though her eyes were still downcast.

"Go on, rub it in," she said, trying to pretend like she didn't care.

He felt his face grow hot, like it did when he was practicing a difficult piece and messed up. He walked over to her, and she flinched instinctively from the emotional barbs that were sure to come. He unzipped his backpack and took out the jar of candy.

"Here," he said gruffly, handing it to her. "I don't even like candy corn that much." Before she could say anything, he turned around and ran back home.

"Hey, sweetie," her mother greeted, as Maka opened the front door. "You look happy today! Where on earth did you get such a big jar of candy?"

Maka only smiled, clutching the candy closer to her heart.

"You were right, Mama!"

_~end~_

**A/N:** Because remember in elementary school, flirting meant boys making fun of you?


	2. Valentine's Day

**Valentine's Day**

* * *

The air was filled with sounds of scissors snipping paper, while the floor of the classroom was littered with scraps of bright pink and red. Children ran around with sticky glue on their fingers, sparkles and glitter in their hair, and the entire room was filled with an air of extreme chaos.

It was the day before Valentine's Day, and Ms. Marie was desperately trying to get her class to create valentines for each of their classmates. The only people who had a clean workspace were Maka and Kid, though the latter had only made one paper heart in an attempt to create a perfectly symmetrical valentine. Maka, however, was working on her final card.

She bit her lip carefully, not sure of what to write. For all of the other valentines, she'd written a personalized message, but she didn't know what to say to Soul. She always had a hard time speaking around him. Her face grew hot and her tongue felt fuzzy. She didn't really like that feeling. Finally, she decided on:

_Dear Soul,_

_Happy Valentine's Day!_

_Love,_

_Maka_

Quickly, she erased the "_Love_" and replaced it with a _"From._" Unsatisfied, she placed the abrupt message on top of the stack of finished valentines, and carried her stack to show Ms. Marie.

"Ms. Marie, I've finished my valentines!" she announced, proudly holding up her stack.

Ms. Marie smiled at Maka. The little girl was at the top of the class and was always eager to learn. She took the stack of valentines and read the top one, frowning slightly. Then she rifled through the others. She bent down to look at the green eyes of the little girl before her. "Maka," she asked, "why is Soul's valentine so short compared to everyone else's?"

Maka shifted uncomfortable, twisting her hands. "Well…well I couldn't think of anything to say," she stammered. "I tried really hard, I did!" she insisted.

Ms. Marie smiled and patted her on the head. "It's okay, Maka. Thank you for completing your work. I'll take these and put them in everyone's Valentine Box." The class had been instructed to bring in an empty shoebox, which they'd then decorated during art class, to fill with valentines.

Meanwhile, the boy in question, Soul Evans, was at his desk staring at Maka. His cheek rested in his small hand, and his own meager stack of half-hearted valentines was sitting forlornly in front of him. His best friend, a stocky boy with shockingly blue hair and wide eyes, nudged him sharply.

"Hey, Soul, what are you staring it?"

Soul blinked, startled, and looked at his friend. "I wasn't staring at anything!" he said defensively.

"Nuh-_uh_," said Black*Star "I saw you! You were looking at Maka!" He glanced around furtively, then lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Do you…do you have a _crush_ on her?"

"No!" protested Soul. "Just because I was looking at her doesn't mean I like her!" he insisted.

"So you _do_ like her!" said Black*Star triumphantly. "You _looove_ her!" he shouted exuberantly. "MAKA AND SOUL, SITTING IN A TREE! K-I-S-S-I–"

"Shhh, keep your voice down!" Soul clamped his hand around the other boy's mouth, but Black*Star was bigger than him and easily shrugged him off. Soul stared nervously around at the classroom, but everyone else was too busy either dumping glitter on the hair of the person sitting next to them, or brushing off the glitter in their hair onto the valentine they were making.

sHis face was starting to resemble a cherry. Maka made him nervous. She was so smart, and she was always right. He really wanted to talk to her, but he always felt stupid around her, so he usually just walked past her without saying anything.

Black*Star patted his partner on the back, his hand sticky with glue. "Make her an extra-special valentine!" he said. "Or bring her a present tomorrow! I like chocolate, maybe you should bring her a box of chocolate tomorrow."

Soul rifled in the pockets of his pants and fished out two dimes and a penny. He looked down at the three coins resting on the palm of his hand. "I don't think I can buy anything with twenty-one cents," he said gloomily. "I don't even get an allowance."

Black*Star chewed on the end of his marker, thinking hard. Then his face lit up and he clapped his hands. "I know! Bring her flowers! Girls love flowers," he said knowingly. "They really like roses. Once I saw Tsubaki smelling a rose, and she smiled really big."

"Where am I supposed to get – Oh!" Soul smiled brightly. "My mom grows roses in the backyard! I'll just pick a few and bring them to school tomorrow!" He picked up the black marker next to him and hastily scribbled _Hapy valentins day from soul_ on the rest of the lopsided, cut-out hearts he'd made.

That afternoon, he dashed home from school and sprinted straight towards the backyard. He headed towards the prickly rosebushes his mother grew lovingly and grinned. They were perfect! Carefully, he reached out to grab a flower and pulled hard. The flower popped off the stem, and he was left with a handful of petals. Glaring, he grabbed another flower with the same results. After half an hour, he was surrounded by scattered rose petals and he smelled like perfume.

He grit his teeth in determination. Stretching his hand out determinedly toward another rose, he –

"SOUL EVANS, WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

Soul jerked his around quickly away from the rose and jerked around. His mother was towering above him, her eyes glinting with fury.

He gulped, and backed away, only to have the sharp thorns of the rosebush jab him sharply in the back.

"You are in _huge_ trouble, young man! I'm going to spank you so hard, you won't be able to sit on the piano bench!"

Soul whimpered softly. "I…I just wanted to bring some flowers to school for Maka," he cried.

His mother froze, her sharp eyes softening a fraction, though he didn't notice. "You mean the girl who lives down the street? Maka Albarn?"

He nodded his head, eyes shut tightly.

"Hm. Well you can't just pull roses off the stems like that, you have to trim them properly. And I'll have to keep them in some water overnight so that they're still fresh when you bring them to school tomorrow."

He opened his eyes a fraction, glancing hopefully up at his mother. She smiled for an instant, then her face hardened and her hand shot out to grab him by the arm. "But that does _not _change the fact that you have just ruined an entire bush of roses!"

Maybe she didn't spank him as hard that day, or maybe he was too happy to feel any pain, but Soul didn't shed a single tear; instead, he smiled blissfully.

The next day, he ran eagerly to school, the small bundle of roses wrapped carefully and placed in his backpack. He didn't want to hold them, because he wanted to surprise her.

When he arrived at school, Black*Star looked over at him curiously and winked knowingly. Then they both sat down at their desk, looking expectantly up at Ms. Marie.

"Happy Valentine's Day, class!" she smiled at them. She ran her fingers through her honey blonde hair. Ms. Marie seemed happier than usual, and she looked prettier too.

Kid spoke up. "Ms. Marie, you look beautiful today. Your earrings are perfectly symmetrical," he proclaimed gravely.

She beamed at him. "Why, thank you Kid!"

Black*Star shouted out, leaning eagerly out of his chair. "Ms. Marie, do _you _have a Valentine?"

The class giggled and whispered amongst themselves, while their teacher blushed. She scolded Black*Star gently by frowning playfully, but she couldn't stop the smile spreading across her face. "I do, actually. His name is Franken Stein. But you can't tell anybody, okay? It'll be our little secret," she whispered secretively. "Promise?"

The class nodded firmly. "We pinky promise!"

She smiled and clapped her hands. "Good! Then, speaking of valentines, how about we start our Valentine's Day party? Yesterday after school, I put all the valentines into everyone's Valentine Box. Each person should have eighteen valentines. While you get your box, I'll hand out the cookies and lemonade."

The children rushed eagerly towards their boxes and dashed back towards their chairs, giggling and laughing to themselves.

When Ms. Marie came around to Maka's desk and set down a plate of cookies and a cup of lemonade, the little girl tapped her wrist gently.

"Ms. Marie, I only have seventeen valentines."

The teacher frowned slightly. "Hm, let's see." She counted the stack of valentines in front of Maka. Sure enough, there were only seventeen. She looked at each valentine, murmuring to herself. "…Kilik, Patti, Jacqueline, Tsubaki…I think you're missing Soul's valentine. Maybe I left it behind on my desk. Let me go check," she said, and Maka nodded, taking a sip of the lemonade.

Ms. Marie walked back to her desk, but there was nothing on it. She walked towards Soul and tapped the little boy on the shoulder. He turned, his red eyes bright and cheerful.

"Soul, did you forget to write a valentine to Maka?" she whispered in his ear.

To her surprise, he blushed to himself. "No, I – " and he told her his plan while Black*Star stole his cookies.

Ms. Marie smiled and nodded, then walked back to her desk. Making sure that Maka wasn't watching, she took out a sheet of red paper and cut it out into a heart. Quickly, she wrote down, "_Happy Valentine's Day, Maka! From, Soul" _Then she walked back over to Maka's desk.

"Here you go, Maka! I must've lost it in the mix of other valentines."

Maka scanned the message scrawled on the heart, a sharp crease forming between her eyebrows. Then she looked up at the teacher. "Ms. Marie, Soul didn't write this."

Ms. Marie gaped at the little girl sitting before her. "What – what do you mean? Of course he did," she laughed weakly.

"No, this handwriting is too neat and the spelling is too good for it to be Soul's," explained Maka.

Ms. Marie crouched down to face Maka. "Oh, honey, he actually – "

The girl smiled sadly back at her. "It's okay, Ms. Marie. It doesn't matter." She picked up her empty plate and cup, then walked over to the trashcan to throw away the garbage.

Unsettled, Ms. Marie walked to the front of the classroom. "Class, if you're done with your snack, you can go out to the playground for recess." Cheering, the children stampeded outside, except for one. Maka trudged out the door, her pigtails drooping in disappointment. She told herself that it didn't matter, but secretly, she'd really, really wanted a valentine from Soul. Maka walked over to the swings, and sat on one by herself, slowly swinging back and forth, staring at her feet.

She heard footsteps approach and looked up to see Soul. He looked uncharacteristically shy, quite unlike his normally self-confident self, and he was holding something behind his back.

"Maka…"

She hopped off the swing. "Yeah?"

He held out a small bunch of roses towards her. "Will you be my valentine?" he asked meekly, red eyes looking anywhere but her.

The little girl stared in shock at the flowers. Slowly, she took them and breathed in the scent. They smelled so sweet, nothing like the roses they sold at the grocery store. Then she looked back at Soul, a small smile spreading across her face.

"Yes," she giggled. Then she leaned in and pecked him quickly on the cheek, before darting away back towards the classroom.

_~end~_

**A/N: **These oneshots don't happen in any specific order and are not related to each other unless I specifically say so. Therefore, Soul and Maka could be enemies in one story, and best friends in the next.

SoulEaterIsLIFE, I'm working on your request for the playground story. I just wanted to post this as close to Valentine's Day as possible (though I've finished the outline for your request.) Hope you guys liked it! Be my valentine and leave me reviews, 'mkay?

Love,

~ Paper


	3. Flying

**Flying**

* * *

**Requested by: **SoulEaterisLIFE

* * *

"Bet you can't!"

"Bet I can!"

"Bet you can't!"

"Bet I _can! _Just watch me!"

Secretly, Soul was of the opinion that Maka could do whatever she wanted, but he didn't want her to know. He hoped that by watching her fly, he'd be able to pick up a few tips and be able to fly too.

The argument had started during recess that day. Soul had been playing with Black*Star in the sandbox, when the blue-haired boy had spoken up suddenly.

"Hey, Soul, let's go to the fifth-grade playground."

Soul's eyes widened. "The _fifth-grade_ playground? But we're not allowed there! We'll probably have to sit out of recess for a week!"

Black*Star snickered. "Are you a scaredy-cat? I'm not scared to go! Nothing's scary to a god like me! I'm gonna be even bigger than the fifth graders someday!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I'm not scared either!" Soul protested.

"Then c'mon!"

Reluctantly, the white haired boy followed the blue haired one to the fifth grade playground. Someone had forgotten to lock the fence, so the slipped between the swinging gate and stood in awe. The slides were so steep! And there were jungle gyms and high monkey bars and basketball hoops – the two children ogled at the sight. Black*Star immediately dashed off into the depths of the playground, out of sight, but Soul stood rooted to the spot. Suddenly, he heard a twig snap behind them, and he whirled around. A small face with two blonde pigtails was peering between the crack of the door.

"You're not allowed to go on the fifth grade playground!"

Soul groaned inwardly. The last thing he needed was for _Maka_ to show up. She was such a goody-goody, she'd probably rat on him! Girls didn't know the Man Code at all.

Sure enough, Maka announced, "I'm going to tell on Ms. Marie!" and turned to go.

"Wait!" called Soul desperately. "I bet you can't fly!"

She paused, eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

He babbled, desperate not to lose his recess privilege. "I bet you're scared of heights! I bet you can't even go to the top of the jungle gym and jump off!" he said.

Maka froze. She'd always wanted to fly. Her mama had told her stories about angels, people who had wings and could soar in the sky like birds. She wanted to be like them. At home, when nobody was watching, she tried leaping into the air in an effort to launch herself off the ground and into the air, but with unsatisfactory results. She'd always assumed it was because she started too close to the ground.

And besides, she could never refuse a challenge.

"I bet I can," she said stubbornly, and slipped through the gate into the fifth-grade playground, heading towards the massive jungle gym. Soul let out a sigh of relief and followed her.

The jungle gym was huge. From the ground, they couldn't even see the top. The two children began climbing, huffing and puffing as they clambered up the rungs of the jungle gym.

When they finally reached the top, they collapsed on their bellies. Maka giggled to herself, smiling at Soul, who smiled back. Then she remembered who she was smiling at and quickly frowned. She stuck her chin up in the air and stood up carefully, preparing herself for takeoff. She glanced down quickly and wished she hadn't. It really was a long way down, but there was no backing down now. She didn't want Soul to think that she was a wimp. Trying to calm the rising panic, she took a deep breath and stretched out her arms.

Soul peered over the edge and gulped. Could she really do it? He was sure she could, but it looked so scary! What if she got hurt? He tugged at her sleeve. "Maka, maybe this isn't such a good idea…"

She looked at him, her eyes wide with fright. "Of course it is! I _can _fly!" she shouted defiantly.

"No, I really don't think – " She shook off his arm and took a deep breath. He backed away, watching in awe. Maka crouched for a second and then leapt into the air, flapping her arms vigorously. For a fraction of a second, she hung in the air, a look of pure joy and surprise on her face. Then gravity pulled on her and she crashed onto the woodchips below.

Soul clambered off the jungle gym and hurried to her side as fast as she could.

"Maka, Maka are you okay?" he asked worriedly, shaking her gently. She let out a soft whimper of pain, her face white, as she shook her head. Her eyes were shut tightly, but tears streamed from the closed lids anyways. Panicking, he checked to see if there was any blood – there wasn't. Soul wrung his hands helplessly; he had no idea what to do.

"I'll – I'll get a Band-Aid!" he shouted out loud, but then realized that he had no idea where to put the Band-Aid. "Where does it hurt?" he asked her urgently, keeping his voice down in case the loud noise hurt her ears.

"My…arm…" she whispered, and he immediately looked at said limb. It seemed to be a little bigger than the other one, and his heart caught in his throat. This was all his fault! If he hadn't dared Maka to fly, she probably wouldn't have fallen off! And now she was probably dying!

His eyes grew wide at the thought.

"Maka, please don't die!" he begged her. "I'll be so bored in class with nobody to make fun of!"

Suddenly, bright blue hair appeared beside Maka.

"What's wrong?" asked Black*Star.

"It's Maka! She's _dying_," sobbed Soul.

"What?" exclaimed Black*Star. "I'll go tell Ms. Marie!" and the stout boy hurried off as fast as he could on his short legs. As he watched his friend leave, a horrible thought struck him. If Black*Star told Ms. Marie, she would know they were on the fifth grade playground and take away their recess…for a week. And worse, she would take away Maka's recess privileges too, and then Maka would hate him forever, if she didn't already hate him for killing her.

Maka's breathing steadied a little, and she shifted on the woodchips. Gently, he put a small hand on her back and helped her sit up, kneeling beside her. "Are you okay?" he asked again, relieved that she wasn't going to die after all.

She nodded and wiped her eyes on the back of her arm.

"Here," said Soul, offering her the corner of his shirt. She just gave him a look, and he blushed, wishing that he had a tissue or something similar. Minutes later, Ms. Marie came hurrying over with Black*Star in tow, her face white with panic.

"Maka, Maka honey, what's wrong? Soul, what's going on?" she asked, eyes raking over the two children in front of her.

"Maka's _dying_," said Black*Star solemnly, and Soul began wailing again.

"She's _what?" _shrieked Ms. Marie, bending over the little girl and checking her for any visible gashes or breaks. "Maka, sweetie, where does it hurt?"

Maka looked up at the teacher. "My arm hurts a little, but it not as much as before," she said, holding her arm up. Ms. Marie glanced at it – it didn't seem to be broken, but there was some swelling.

"Let's get you to the nurse's office," she said. "We'll have Nurse Nygus take a look, okay? Can you walk?"

Maka nodded, and Ms. Marie helped her stand up. She felt someone tug gently on her skirt, and she turned to see Soul looking up at her hesitantly.

"Ms. Marie, can I – can I come too?" he asked shyly.

She knelt down. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt too?"

The little boy bit his lip. "No…I just want to make sure that Maka will be okay," he said shyly.

Ms. Marie smiled. "Of course you can, Soul. In fact, why don't you help her to the nurse's office? I have to go check on the other children. Do you think you can take care of her?" she asked seriously.

Soul nodded fervently.

"Okay, then, I'll see you back in the classroom! And Black*Star, come with me. I have a few questions to ask you," she added sharply. Black*Star groaned, knowing he was in for some heavy punishment.

As the teacher and student left, Soul took Maka by her uninjured hand. "I'm really sorry, Maka."

She looked at him sadly. "It's not your fault. But I guess you're right. I can't fly after all." She squeezed Soul's hand, and the two children walked gloomily towards the infirmary. When Soul knocked on the door, Nurse Nygus opened it a few minutes later to peer down at them over her surgeon's mask.

"Soul, Maka, are you okay?" she asked, bright blue eyes concerned.

"I hurt my arm after I fell of the jungle gym," explained Maka.

"Take a seat right there," said the nurse, gesturing towards a small cot. Maka sat down, and Soul sat beside her. "This might hurt a little, but I have to check and see if there are any fractures." The nurse ran her fingers gently over Maka's arm, applying slight pressure. Maka let out a small yelp of pain and grabbed onto Soul's arm. Nurse Nygus frowned, and continued her inspection. After a few minutes, she spoke up. "Well, I don't there it's anything to worry about. It'll be bruised for a week or so, and you have a few scrapes, so I'll clean those up for you and give you an ice pack. In the meantime, don't go near the fifth-grade playground," she reprimanded, and the two children blushed. "Why were you on there, anyways? You're not allowed."

Maka opened her mouth to speak, but Soul cut in before she could say anything. "It was my fault," he said meekly. He knew he was sacrificing a week's worth of recess, but he couldn't stand seeing Maka hurt her arm _and_ lose recess.

"Oh?"

"I – I dared her to jump off the jungle gym!" he babbled. "It wasn't her fault, honest!"

Nurse Nygus was a very shrewd woman, and she'd worked with children for many years. She could tell there was something Soul was hiding, and that he wasn't exactly telling the truth by the shocked expression on Maka's face. The nurse smiled broadly, but the children couldn't see it behind her surgeon's mask.

"Are you sure about that, Soul?

"Yes!" he babbled, shaking his head fervently. "I told her to do it! I dragged her onto the fifth grade playground and made her jump off! In fact, I even _push – "_

"It's because I was trying to fly," said Maka quietly, cutting in on Soul's rant.

Nurse Nygus looked at the two children in wonder. She covered Maka's hand with her own. "Maka, sweetie, I'm sorry to tell you this, but it's impossible for humans to fly. We don't have wings, for one. Our bones are too heavy as well, unlike birds, which have light and porous bones."

Maka hung her head sadly. "I know, I've read several books on the anatomy of the bone structure of birds."

Nurse Nygus blinked. "Oh. Well. That's…good," she said, feeling wrong-footed. "Anyway, let me just write a quick note to your teacher. Ms. Marie's your teacher right?" Maka nodded

Beside her, Soul gritted his teeth and squeezed her hand tightly. He would find a way to help Maka fly, no matter what.

Maka stood up and let go of his hand. She picked up the ice pack Soul handed her and placed it on her injured arm. "Thanks, Nurse Nygus," she said sadly. "I won't go jumping off jungle gyms anymore." She left the infirmary, with Soul following her. Behind them, Nygus' blue eyes clouded, feeling sorry for the little girl. She herself had tried to fly when she was a little girl, with similar results.

When they entered the classroom, Soul saw Black*Star waving his hands urgently with a distressed expression on his face, as though warning him to flee. Before he could do anything, however, Ms. Marie appeared, looming over him. "Now, then, I have to talk to you two about the rules regarding the playground."

Wordlessly, Maka handed Ms. Marie the note Nygus had given her. The teacher scanned the note quickly, and her eyes softened. "Okay, Maka, you can go take a seat. Soul, I want to have a word with you."

Soul hung his head gloomily, preparing himself for a full week of no recess. Marie bent down, her honey-colored eyes soft but stern. "Soul, I know you didn't mean for Maka to get hurt. But there's a reason we have these rules, just in case somebody _does_ get injured. Accidents can always happen. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to take away your recess privileges, just to make sure nothing like this happens again."

"Yes, Ms. Marie," he said meekly.

She smiled. "Luckily for you, Black*Star over there will be joining you."

He looked over at his best friend, who waved cheerily at him.

"Oh, and Soul, since this is your first time breaking the rules, I'll shorten the week to three days."

Soul looked up in shock. "Really?"

"Really. You should thank Nurse Nygus," said Ms. Marie, winking.

* * *

The next three days of the school were the worst Soul had ever endured. Recess was the high point of his day, and now he was forced to sit at his desk by himself and watch as the other students ran outside gleefully for an hour. He was glad Black*Star was there to keep him company, though. During their imprisonment, he also thought of Maka's dilemma. He once found himself drawing a picture of Maka with a pair of angel wings.

"Hey, that's a pretty good chicken!" complimented Black*Star sincerely, clapping his friend on the back. "But why's it got pigtails?"

"It's not a chicken, it's Maka," Soul explained. "She wants to fly, but can't figure out how."

Black*Star grinned broadly. "You should've just asked me! It's easy – just climb up to somewhere really high and jump off."

"We already tried that," said Soul, shaking his head.

"Huh. Always works for me," shrugged Black*Star.

Soul gaped at his friend. "Wh-what?"

"You know, that's how I fly."

"You can _fly_?"

"Hah! When you're a big guy like me, nothing's impossible. 'Course, someone little like you or Maka probably couldn't do it."

"Oh," said Soul, and resumed his drawing. When he finished it, he looked out the window of the classroom at the other children. They all looked like they were having so much fun, he though gloomily. Monkey bars and slides and fireman poles and…He froze.

_I know how Maka can fly._

The next day, Soul was the second one out on the playground (Black*Star had charged out way ahead of everyone else). He turned around and searched for Maka. He caught sight of the bouncing blonde pigtails over by the see-saw.

"Maka, Maka!" he shouted, running towards her.

She turned and looked at him. "Yeah?"

"I know what to do! I know how you can fly!" he shouted. Her face lit up, but then darkened right away.

"You heard Nurse Nygus, it's impossible for humans to fly. We don't have wings and – "

"Yeah, yeah, our bones are too heavy," he cut in impatiently. "But it doesn't matter, I figured out a way. Come with me!" and he grabbed her by the hand and ran towards the end of the playground. "There," he said, pointing.

Maka stood next to him, blinking at the contraption before her. "The swings?" she asked disdainfully. "I've been on the swings plenty of times before."

"Just trust me," he insisted, and so she sat hesitantly on the swings. She kicked off from the ground and began swinging her legs, gaining height. Maka looked down at Soul. "What – "

Suddenly, he darted behind her. As she came towards him, he placed his small hands on her back and pushed hard. She flew forward, and when she came back towards him, he pushed her again. Again and again, Soul pushed Maka on the swings until she was going so high that he could no longer reach her.

Maka laughed out loud as she soared above the ground. "Soul," she cried out gleefully. "I'm flying!"

He put his hand up to his face to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up at her flying above him like a bird.

"I knew you could do it!"

_~end~_


End file.
